Madness Prevails
by Narino
Summary: They all thought that the deeds of the Demon Emperor had been his worst. However, he returns with a brand new threat, a completely unexpected way of warfare... not deadly to them in particular, but to their sanity. [One-Shot]


"Very well; with this finished, the agenda for today is done. Is there anything that should be addressed today?"

A measuring glance from green eyes wandered over the people gathered; then their owner leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "In this case, I would like to adress it myself. I am aware that none of us likes to think about it, but this is getting overboard."

The chairwoman of the Supreme Council, Sumeragi Kaguya, earned many hopeful but also scared looks with her announcement. Empress Nunnally's expression was unreadable; something that happened rather often as of late, whenever this topic was mentioned.

Expecting silence filled the circular room, where the representatives of every nation of Earth sat with each other. A single, circular table went from the left archway -whose gate was the only entrance to the room- over to the right one; it was only interrupted by Kaguya's lectern. Amidst the room was a platform for guest speakers and petitioners whose pleas had been redirected towards this last instance.

As it happened so often in these last months, a loud honking echoed out of nowhere. The guards that had been leaning at the walls became attentive, although none of the representatives seemed to be surprised by now; some expressions became agonised, other people lowered their heads in their hands.

The air right in front of the chairwoman's lectern became distorted; only moments later, a black convertible dashed out of the distortion and drifted through a whole lap through the room. When it reached the place it first emerged at, the car came to a stop, so that everyone could easily see the violet lines crawling over the black paint.

The sports car had a low profile and only the driver's seat was occupied... by a man in white robes adorned with gold. He was sitting casually, with his right hand on the steering wheel and the other one on the door.

Cold purple wandered over the people gathered before the new arrival let out a derogative snort; then he put on a pair of sunglasses, drifted through the room once more and vanished with another loud honking.

Lelouch vi Britannia, the Demon Emperor. The first time he appeared like that had been in the midst of January, at this year's first gathering.

It was now June of the year 2020 a.t.b. and the late dictator made an appearance at every subsequent gathering, driving around in this black convertible every time; he never left it or spoke to them.

While the representatives of the nations had merely been too horrified to do anything but stare when this happened for the first time, they already awaited the feared man with heavy Hadron Cannons and a large contingent of guards later on... to no avail. An unbelievably powerful forcefield was protecting this car, far stronger than any known Blaze Luminous and maybe even superior to the legendary Ultimate Defense System of Shinkiro.

There were many attempts to end this for good... but nothing worked. Explosives could not be applied in higher quantities without endangering the gathered politicions; Hadron weaponry and bullets of any amount were simply deflected by this shield. Once they even discussed the creation of a F.L.E.I.A.-warhead with heavily limited radius; however, most of the representatives -including the chairwoman and the empresses Nunnally and Tianzi- spoke against it.

The room was quiet for quite some time before the representative of France spoke up: "You are right, Chairwoman... yet we tried everything we could. Even Zero does not have any ideas."

This was a fact as well; the masked hero made several attempts to board the convertible and pull the tyrant out of it, so that he could be executed once more. However, a mysterious power always had him stop a few meters in front of the vehicle; in situations like these, the last emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire and his murderer would look at each other without reacting to their respective gazes. Then the dead man would drive off with a smirk.

"But still, it can not go on like that!", the representative of Germany chimed in. The woman seemed close to tears. "He drove my little daughter home just yesterday!"

Following that, there were a few more interjections from all around the table: "He's been seen speeding on the highway all the time!", "He was going on a ride on the Knightmare testing track just the other day!", "He ran over a bank robber on the run last week!"

The worst about this was -in Kaguya's opinion- that those were not even really bad things the late emperor was doing. Because it was him however, everyone thought it horrible. Sadly, even the chairwoman had to act terrified despite knowing better by now. This did not mean that she was not annoyed by that car appearing time and time again, though.

So while she continued to listen to the remarks being thrown into the room, the girl sighed inwardly. This had to stop, no matter what he planned.

"There is a way", she ended the jumble after a while; this brought her the attention of everyone in this room. "If the Supreme Council has no objections, I would like to take care of this myself... but seeing that I do not want to bring anyone's hopes up beforehand though, I would like to keep my course of action a secret for now."

Or rather: she would prefer to not bring a certain person to hide away once word got out.

"I doubt that there are any objections, Chairwoman", the representative of Siberia could be heard. He looked at his neighbours, who nodded their consent, before continuing: "Please start the vote."

Kaguya did as she was asked after a moment of waiting... and 100% approval were shining down in big letters from the screen over her lectern; the vote did not even take five seconds.

"That settles it; I will begin the preparations immediately. This concludes today's meeting."

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

Once she was among friends however, the young Japanese dropped down on the couch with a heavy sign before hugging a pillow. The empresses of Britannia and China sat closeby with tea and cake.

Those three were the only teenagers so high in politics; it was only natural for them to spend time with each other. On top of that, they got along very well.

"I really wonder what he wants to tell us with this behaviour... I mean, he is not really doing anything bad..."

The Tianzi, Lihua Jiang, cast a thoughtful look from her big, red eyes on the cookie in her hand while she spoke. Nunnally continued not to contribute to the discussion and simply drank her tea. She remained silent most of the times either of them mentioned Lelouch; however, Kaguya could very well guess that this was just a little sister missing her big brother. Not that she held it against the Britannian: Lelouch always took good care of her after all.

"You mean besides breaking the law on several occasions?"

Kaguya's response had the younger empress turn her head and nod. The chairwoman sighed again and looked at the ceiling. "But yes, I know what you mean. It just makes no sense..."

The Japanese was unable to put the sudden change in behaviour -or reappearance, for that matter- of the late dictator into perspective. He appeared everywhere around the world, terrified the people with his looks alone... then drove around in this strange convertible for a bit and disappeared again. Sometimes he did something good, sometimes something... "bad"; if one could call it that.

"I... I heard that he drove through Mister Ohgi's front yard for the third time not long ago."

The Tianzi's interjection was noted with another nod. Right, that too. "Me too. He doesn't really seem to like him much."

For whatever reason that was.

In this moment however, their conversation was interrupted by Zero entering the room. He was clad in suit, cape and mask as usual; striding along as he always did. His specular visor was mostly turned in Kaguya's direction, though. The three girls bowed their heads in respect and -in case of the chairwoman- waved at him cheerfully.

The masked man nodded at the room in general before directing his words at the Japanese: "You have a plan to solve this... situation?"

She already expected him wanting to talk about that. This was actually really good, seeing that she needed his help in this matter. Kaguya nodded and acted as if she had not seen Nunnally's curious gaze. The Britannian was interested in this situation after all; just like the chairwoman thought she would be.

"Yes, I do. However, I need you to find C.C. for that. Discretely, if possible."

The others showed an interesting mix of expressions: Nunnally was surprised, Lihua confused and Zero... tensed the slightest bit. She could not see his face due to the mask, but he could not hide his body's reactions. The chairwoman made it a habit to watch out for those by now, seeing that it was the only way to read the masked man at least a bit.

"C.C.? ...I think I understand."

Nunnally nodded over Zero's words while the Tianzi was still looking back and forth between them. So at least two out of three understood why she wanted to find Emperor Lelouch's confidant: if someone knew what all of this meant, anyone at all, it was her.

"Um... who is C.C.?"

The question came from Lihua and after a moment of thought, Kaguya had to facepalm herself. "Right. You never really met her, I forgot."

So while Zero went off, the Japanese girl started to tell her younger friend what she knew about the mysterious woman.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

Interestingly, it did not take more than five minutes for the masked man to return. She did not even reach the point where Kaguya met C.C. again after the Black Rebellion failed... however, this could wait. It definitely could, seeing there was no mistaking the young woman that entered the room after the masked hero: long, openly falling green hair framed a rather pale face that featured sparkling, golden eyes. While her friends seemed to be mostly curious however, Kaguya eyed the new arrival with a confused stare.

That happened way too fast.

"How did you do that now, Zero? Was she hiding in your wardrobe?"

Her question remained unanswered, but she could guess the answer. It would be ridiculous for something like this to be true.

C.C. just took a seat on the couch right next to Lihua, donning her usual smirk and throwing back a playful gaze. "I heard that our dear boy is on the run."

"I would be surprised if you hadn't..."

Kaguya shook her head slightly and sighed before stopping herself. Getting right to the point might become a problem... so she decided to chat a bit first. Besides, she was curious what C.C. did the past months after all.

"How did it go on your end?"

The chairwoman did not even leave the other girls enough time for an introduction... she had to admit that she was a bit desperate concerning the situation with Lelouch by now. _Some_ haste was necessary.

However, their guest did not seem to think the same: she leaned back comfortably and closed her eyes for a moment. "I have nothing to complain about. Food is provided and I'm left alone."

However she could pay for that. C.C. did not work, at least not as far as Kaguya knew

"I'm glad to hear that."

Her friendly smile was not returned, though. The older one crossed her arms with another smirk. "We both know that you're beating around the bush, girl."

 _So... no chatting after all..._

She was not sure whether she should feel relieved or insulted. On the one hand, this last statement was rude... but on the other hand, it did save them some time. Well, she did not really mind anyway.

Kaguya sighed and made wide motion. "You know how it is. He's everywhere and does whatever he wants. What _is_ that convertible he drives around in?"

This was the question everything depended on. C.C. did not stop grinning, though; she took a cup from the tray Sayoko just put down and looked at it thoughtfully. Nunnally's maid was really conscientious, seeing that she even prepared four cups instead of the usual three.

After taking a sip of tea, they were given more silence. The three politicians waited anxiously, Zero stood a bit to the side and appeared to be at attention as well. Then however, the playful expression became more serious and their guest started to talk:  
"There lived a boy not too long ago; a boy who had a dream. He wanted to create a weapon that could kill the gods... this boy was Charles."

"My father?"

Nunnally's surprised question had the older woman pause for a moment to nod at her. "Yes, exactly that Charles. He created something; an invention powerful enough to fulfill this desire of his: The Sword of Akasha.

However", she added after a short pause, after taking another sip from her cup, "another boy stepped between him and his goal; he destroyed the sword and killed Charles."

This... was new. Not that it was not believable, but...

"And... how exactly is that connected to this situation?"

Now C.C. smirked again. "Apparently, Lelouch had too much free time after Zero killed him. He gathered the fragments left in the World of C and reforged them into something new."

The corners of her mouth rose a bit higher before she called the name:  
"The Car of Akasha."

Baffled silence filled the room; the three girls looked at each other and C.C. emptied her cup with that smile never leaving her face, she even had Sayoko refill it once she was done. While Kaguya was still trying to understand all of this however, Zero continued the conversation: "And... he drives around with it for... what reason? I don't understand..."

The older one waved it off. "Maybe he's just bored. He has a car after all, so why not take it for a ride?"

That logic...

Kaguya sighed again and downed her own cup in one go. She really needed something to drink at this point. However, the tea did not help much except from slightly burning her tongue and throat.

"Is there a way to stop him?"

C.C. smirked over this question just as well. She tilted her head and returned the curious gazes all the younger girls gave her. If there was something that could be done...

"A car that contains the might of the collective human spirit, that can draw power from every human being... what do you think, can you stop it?"

This explanation had all of them lower their heads. This did not sound good, not at all.

"Good for you that I just lied."

"""Huh?"""

Three surprised voices could be heard, one of them Kaguya's own. The chairwoman returned the mischievous gaze from those golden eyes with an hopeful one of her own. Did that mean...

"It runs on willpower and pride."

It was interesting... how a single sentence could destroy a girl's hopes...

"So Lelouch has a car... that runs on his willpower and pride? Are you serious?"

It was her last hope: to have C.C. deny what she just said and reveal that it was another joke. However, the woman nodded and Kaguya was already too dulled from the realisation to be horrified about it: they were finished.

"Then we're done for."

Lelouch's most powerful weapons had always been his intelligence and willpower... and he had every right to be proud about them. If he really had something to bring both of them to bear like this... then there was nothing they could do. Even if the Supreme Council would have approved of using F.L.E.I.A., the weapon of mass destruction would not even leave a scratch in the paint.

Kaguya lowered her head again and sighed while Sayoko refilled C.C.'s cup one more time. However, the silence stayed long enough for this fill to be gone as well before it was broken.

"Nonetheless", Nunnally spoke at last and smiled at the woman. "Thank you for taking the time."

However, her words were simply waved off. "Don't mention it, girl. If there is nothing else to discuss, I will get going now."

It was now that the Japanese recalled her manners and quickly rose to her feet. "Okay. I'll walk you to the door."

Interestingly, the other girls and Zero followed them as well; the walk was silent, though. No one spoke, but the quiet was in no way calming; unfortunately. Kaguya already wondered how she should tell this to the Supreme Council.

Another question managed to sneak amidst her pondering, though: how did C.C. intend to leave Horai Island? Only members of the military or people with a special permission were allowed to take the passage, no matter in which direction.

Zero appeared to have a similar thought, seeing that he asked the green-haired woman about it: "How do you want to get away from here?"

In this very moment however, the five left the building. As if it was meant to answer the question, a loud honking came from not far away; C.C. just smirked while an all too familiar convertible rounded the corner with screeching tires. "There's my ride."

The car came to a stop right in front of them and the passenger-side's door opened. Lelouch had both hands on the steering wheel and if he was looking in their direction... than only with his eyes; his head was directed at the way in front of him and he still wore those sunglasses.

"Perfect timing, boy. You really are useful."

"Shut it, witch."

This was the first time after his death that she actually heard his voice. The late emperor's expression did not change at all, though. C.C. just smirked and waved at the dumbfounded girls. "Until next time. And thank you for the shelter, Zero."

The Car of Akasha dashed off on the last word, had a group of lobbyists jump aside with loud honking and vanished amidst them.

Kaguya stood there with her mouth agape. Lihua was not doing any better and Nunnally... had this unreadable expression again.

Then the last words of C.C. finally reached her head and she turned to the masked man: "So she _really_ was living in your wardrobe?"

No response.

 **. . .**

A car was flying in a space beyond human understanding. Well, it did not really fly: it drove. It drove without any road to drive on.

Wherever the wind that made her hair flow came from, she did not mind it. It was a nice breeze, especially after this hot island.

Her silent driver leaned back in his seat and navigated with mental commands while a content smile was plastered all over his face. The stream of colours and forms around them was reflected in his eyes, so strongly that one could barely see their usual purple colour.

"Although there is one thing even I don't understand."

Her words and the playful gaze she sent his way had the ninety-ninth emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire turn his head. A quiet gesture to continue.

"Why do you drive through Ohgi's front yard so much?"

She did not get an answer, at least not verbally. However, the realm around the car contorted, became darker and then completely black. Then it ripped open and they drove over a small lawn, through a fence that was only halfway done and right through a bed of flowers. Only then did the vehicle come to a stop.

An indignant scream from the side caught her attention and when C.C. turned her head, she became aware of the dark-skinned woman who sat on the ground about a meter away from the skidmarks. A bit further away, she saw a little boy playing in a sandbox.

Lelouch raised his hand in greeting, although his smirk was mostly a gloating one. Then he pressed down the accelerator and vanished right in front of the wall belonging to the Ohgi-residence. C.C. just shook her head; even when she could not stop herself from smirking. "So you still haven't forgiven him for what happened on the Ikaruga?"

Lelouch's pleased smile was response enough.

 **.**

 **. . .**

 **.**

Nunnally came home rather late this day. A few more meetings and conversations held her up for quite some time.

Now however, with only Sayoko by her side, she did not have to pretend anymore. Her facade broke and the Britannian smirked, giggled... and laughed. All of this was simply hilarious.

Her maid smiled as well while the two entered the living room bordering her office.

Her brother was still there... and he would never leave again, she understood that much. While the empress was still laughing about the whole situation and started to wipe the tears of joy out of her eyes, a wonderful scent had her look up.

 _Right... it is Friday again._

The laughter subsided and her smirk became a warm smile while she exchanged a glance with Sayoko. At least she was not the only one who understood his actual goal.

On the table in front of them stood a perfectly cooked, warm meal... and on Nunnally's plate sat a crane, folded out of violet paper.


End file.
